We were discussing why Turnbull handed half a billion of our dollars to a "charity" without any due process. Well it seems The Australian of all papers may have the answer. Goldman Sachs and Lucy Turnbull connections.

Maybe Rupert has correctly decided Turnbull can't win the next election and needs to go.

12:00AM AUGUST 10, 2018
474 COMMENTS
Malcolm Turnbull’s office has confirmed that two of the directors of the Great Barrier Reef Foundation — the recipient of a $444 million grant from his government awarded without tender — may have been hosted at the Prime Minister’s home by wife Lucy.
The Australian can reveal the head of the Great Barrier Reef Foundation’s philanthropy committee, Stephen Fitzgerald, a one-time head of Mr Turnbull’s former investment bank Goldman Sachs, was on the board of the European Business Advisory Council at the same time as Mrs Turnbull.
Mr Fitzgerald is also on the council of advisers for the US Studies Centre in Sydney — where Mrs Turnbull is patron — and was on that council while Mrs Turnbull held the role of deputy chair between 2012 and 2015.
The chair of the philanthropy committee for the Great Barrier Reef Foundation before Mr Fitzgerald, Stephen Roberts, was also on the council of advisers for the US Studies Centre at the same time Mrs Turnbull held ceremonial roles. Mr Roberts resigned from his foundation role in June after being charged with ­alleged criminal cartel conduct.
Asked yesterday whether Mr Fitzgerald or Mr Roberts had been to the Turnbulls’ home, a spokesman for the Prime Minister said: “Prior to 2015, as deputy chair of the US Studies Centre, Mrs Turnbull occasionally hosted USSC directors and advisers at her home.”
The revelations will raise more questions about the grant to the foundation but the Prime Minister’s office insists the decision was not a result of connections.
The Australian understands Mrs Turnbull concedes she knows Mr Fitzgerald but says she has not seen him for more than three years and cannot “recall” discussing the Great Barrier Reef Foundation with him.
“Mrs Turnbull is not a director of the European Australian Business Council and has not been for more than a year,” a spokesman for the Prime Minister said.
“The PM’s parliamentary disclosures reflect this. (Mrs Turnbull) has not spoken directly with either man for several years, and does not recall discussing the funding of the Great Barrier Reef Foundation with them.”
He said: “The PM has not discussed this issue with Mr Fitzgerald or Mr Roberts. The government is preserving the Great Barrier Reef for future generations. This initiative will secure jobs and improve the health of the reef. The foundation is the best-placed body to deliver on these goals.”
Asked whose idea the grant was, Mr Turnbull’s spokesman would only say: “The proposal was developed within the Department of the Environment and Energy in consultation with the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet, the Department of Finance, Treasury, the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority and the Great Barrier Reef Foundation.”
The Australian does not suggest the grant was made improperly.
Mr Turnbull has conceded he knows Mr Fitzgerald but says he does not know another Goldman Sachs boss, Keith Tuffley, who was on the Great Barrier Reef Foundation board until he resigned on federal budget day, May 8.
Environment Minister Josh Frydenberg repeatedly refused to say on 2GB yesterday whether the decision to give the $444m to the foundation without tender was Mr Turnbull’s idea. “It’s the government’s idea and it was one of the major announcements … in the budget because we want to save the Barrier Reef,” he said.
“This is the single largest ever investment in the ­Barrier Reef.”
Labor senator Kristina Keneally said: “There is something fishy about this grant.
“How does a prime minister give away $444m of public money without due diligence, competitive tender or grant application?”
“If Malcolm Turnbull and his family has a personal relationship with one or more of the Great Barrier Reef Foundation board members, that’s even more reason (he) should have ensured this grant decision was taken at arm’s length from him, with the highest standards of probity and contestability, so as to give the public confidence in the decision.”

Lucy Turnbull
Former deputy chair and director of US Studies Centre 2012-15 and on the board of directors of the centre 2007-15, including a time when both Great Barrier Reef Foundation directors Stephen Fitzgerald and Stephen Roberts were on the council of advisers for the US Studies Centre. Also on the board of the European Australian Business Council at the same time as Mr Fitzgerald was a fellow director.

James Brown
The Turnbulls’ son-in-law. A former non-resident fellow at the US Studies Centre.

Stephen Fitzgerald
Former chairman of Goldman Sachs after joining in 1992. Named a managing director in 1998 and a partner in 2002. The current chair of the Great Barrier Reef Foundation Board’s philanthropy committee. On the board of the European Australian Business Council at the same time as Lucy Turnbull. On the council of advisers for the US Studies Centre at the same time Mrs Turnbull was on the board of directors. The PM’s office confirms Mr Fitzgerald may have been hosted by Mrs Turnbull at the Turnbulls’ home.

Stephen Roberts
Former head of Citigroup. Was charged with alleged criminal cartel conduct related to his time at Citigroup. Was chair of the Great Barrier Reef Foundation philanthropycommittee in 2016 and 2017. Resigned from Great Barrier Reef Foundation board in June after he was charged. Was on the council of advisers for the US Studies Centre at the same time as Mrs Turnbull was on the board of directors. The PM’s office confirms he may have been hosted at the Turnbulls’ home.

Alex Turnbull
The Turnbulls’ son. Worked for Goldman Sachs in Hong Kong. The PM’s office says Alex Turnbull ‘does not recall meeting Stephen Fitzgerald’ and ‘they did not work together at Goldman Sachs’.

Here's a good one. Finance press has ignored the worst retail figures on record obviously so as not to draw attention to the real problem. Ever wondered why the used bass gear market is tough? Essentially because lower and middle income earners have less disposable after an extended period of wage stagnation. Who would have thought it? People with relatively less money buy relatively less.

The Crickey story below is worth a read as it deals with the false arguments as to what is wrong with retail and lists the deception by the rest of the media.

This disastrous annual result is a blow to the retailers’ peak bodies, the mainstream media and the Turnbull government.

Alan Austin, August 08, 2018

* * * * *

The unthinkable has happened to Australia’s shopkeepers: growth in retail sales over the last financial year has been the lowest since records began. And this during the most sustained global upswing in trade, corporate profits, jobs and executive salaries in decades.
The dismal data
The latest numbers from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) show total retail sales for 2017-18 at $315.8 billion. This is an increase of $7.8 billion – or just 2.55% – over the previous financial year.
Only twice since the ABS began publishing retail figures 36 years ago has annual growth been below 3%. It was 2.75% in 2010-11 at the depths of the worst global recession in 80 years. And the latest figure – the lowest on record by a fair margin.
With population having increased 1.59% over the year, and inflation at 2.1%, sales relative to population actually declined.
This is not an aberrant result. The rate of growth has fallen each year for the past four. It slipped from 5.00% in 2014-15 to 4.01% the following year, then from 3.17% in 2016-17 to the current all-time low — 2.55%.
Sectors in strife
Of the five retail sectors the ABS tracks the worst hit was department stores with a rise of just 0.24% over the previous year. The household goods sector rose 1.74%. Clothing and footwear rose 2.18%. These are substantial real declines.
Slightly more positive were restaurants and takeaway food services – up 2.85% – and food – up 3.18%.
Retailers’ Association in denial
This disastrous annual result is a blow to the retailers’ peak bodies, the mainstream media and the Turnbull Government. All have been spruiking great results for small business under the Coalition.
The Australian Retailers Association (ARA) issued a media release that ignored the full year outcome and hailed one small aspect of the ABS report – the tiny increase just in the latest month.
Headed “Retailers jumping for joy with June trade figures”, the release focused solely on the June 2018 gain over June 2017. ARA executive director Russell Zimmerman claimed the figures “represent a fair trade for the end of financial year, with a 2.87% total growth year-on-year.”
He neglected to mention – or he may be unaware – that 2.87% is less than half the long term June-over-June average rise of 5.89%. Allowing for inflation and population, it is a significant decline.
There was no comment from Australia’s minister for small business, Craig Laundy, the fourth minister in three years.
Media misrepresentation
The finance press, predictably, refused to report anything that might be construed as negative for the Turnbull government.
The heading of FXStreet’s puff piece was “Australia: Retail sales rebound – Westpac”.
This quoted a bank analyst claiming Australia’s June retail sales results were higher than “expectations”.
ForexLive also ran a positive report with the bold subheading, “Retail sales from Australia for June and the quarter came in better than estimates”.
Business Insider’s heading was “ON A ROLL: Australian retail beats for a third straight month”.
What was “beaten” again were the imaginary “expectations”.
The Australian headed its report “Retail spending rise in June beats forecasts”. It reassured readers that “Australian retail sales rose solidly in June despite widely held concerns that consumers are under stress due to soft wages growth and high debt burdens.”
Even the ABC concealed the stark reality with a piece titled, “Retail figures grind higher as consumers buy into mid-season sales”.
None mentioned the all-time-low annual outcome.
The rest of the world
Meanwhile, retailers in most other developed countries are taking full advantage of the current global boom.
Only two of the 34 developed countries in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) have experienced substantial declines over the last four years – Ireland and Australia – with the latter faring worse of the two.
[graph inserted here. See below in the comments section.]
This confirms that the causes are local rather than global.
What has brought this about?
Causes, as Crikey has regularly reported, are depressed wage rises over the last four years, wage cuts for many workers, pensions failing to keep pace with costs, unemployment and underemployment remaining entrenched and the tax burden having shifted from corporations and high-income professionals to wage and salary earners.
Hence low- and middle-income Australians – the vast majority of shoppers – no longer have the spending money they once had.
Such is life in Turnbull’s Australia.

Seems Turnbull has form in handing out our money without due process. Interesting ingredients in his previous largesse- ignore advise, Murdoch, Russian rain making technology (can't make this stuff up!).

Very worrying for Turnbull- Barrie Cassidy is on the case now and may well find more of this crazy stuff.

This is worth a read.
Dismiss it as the bile of an ex Labor PM who got stiffed by Malcolm, if you wish. Your loss.
I have never been a Rudd fan. People would know that here. Much more a Gillard guy.
I saw Rudd speak at a Party dinner a fortnight ago. I thought long and hard about going, so deep is my unhappiness with his antics during THE election campaign. I was absolutely impressed by the intellect of the man. He is the best at contextualising world events- FULL STOP.
He talked across many issues that night including the content of this article linked below.

Turnbull is so far out of his depth. He is just waiting for whoever is coming to cut him down.

But if a single public phrase was designed to cause maximum offence to the Chinese government, our Malcolm hit the nail right on the head. The phrase mimicked one purportedly used by Mao in October 1949 at the proclamation of the People’s Republic. Mao’s meaning then was that after 100 years of foreign occupation, from the Opium Wars, China was for the first time now standing on its own two feet. By parodying this phrase, Turnbull set out to publicly insult the Chinese government. And he succeeded. But all in pursuit of a grubby domestic political agenda.
The result was that China froze all bilateral ministerial-level meetings for the next nine months for the first time in the 46-year history of the diplomatic relationship. Australian universities began to feel pressure over the future of Chinese student enrolments. The Australian tourism industry began to panic the same might happen to them. The Australian business community began talking to anybody who would listen to “do something” to fix the relationship.

I thought I had seen a top class hypocrite performance when Turnbull declared Shorten had to come clean about what he knew about Ms Husar and when he knew it. He actually did that with a straight face. (Don't mention Barnaby or Cash.)

Obviously, people didn't buy it- Turnbull slipped in the Newpoll- BTW that is 38 consecutive losing Newspolls for the COALition.

More interesting public administration from Turnbull. This has come to light following Reefgate.

A little-known government agency will move from focusing on financing Australian business exports such as wine, mining and obscure products such as "stoned crystals," sheep placenta and kangaroo essence, to dealing with some of the world's largest arms manufacturers as it funds the next generation of Australia's arms exports.
In a remarkable budget boost for the Export Finance and Insurance Corporation, the 100-staff-member organisation will have its taxpayer-funded "national interest" loan facility soar by 400 per cent and be cleared to approve weapons funding with risks "too high to prudently accept" for commercial purposes.

Malcolm can talk about the politics of envy and social climbing, would be if they could be sycophants all he wants, when the topic is his money.

This is story below is so Turnbull. The topic is not his money, it is ours.

From the woman who got Barnaby, Ms Markson:

The Great Barrier Reef Foundation wined and dined some of Australia’s business elite over three days at a luxury island resort where private villas cost more than $2000 a night shortly after being awarded almost half a billion dollars of taxpayer funds.
Private sector leaders and chief executives were treated to a snorkelling excursion and a beach bonfire in a “unique education program” at Qualia on Hamilton Island in May.
The Turnbull government announced in late April that it would partner with the foundation through a $444 million agreement to tackle crown-of-thorns starfish, reduce pollution into the reef and mitigate impacts of climate change. The massive one-off grant was then passed on to it on June 28.

The fact that four years funding was paid all up front is a pretty clear indication Turnbull wanted this done before he could be removed or he loses the next election. I hope the far right of the Liberal Party and the Nats do bring this guy down. He is dreadful. There is so much wrong with this reef stuff I don't know where to start.

Fraser Anning made his maiden speech to the Senate a few days ago. It caused a furore but will have gladdened the hearts of those who want a racist/ religious basis to our immigration policy.

Mr Anning got there in very interesting way. He became the replacement Qld One Nation Senator for Malcolm Roberts after a special recount was ordered. Roberts was found to be a dual citizen and ruled ineligible. See people other than Labor guys have had that issue, despite the recent impression it was all Bill Shorten's fault coming from Turnbull and his Murdoch megaphone. BTW that twit Roberts only got elected because an even bigger twit called a stupid DD election.
Back to the point.....We thought there was a problem when Anning was ceremonially escorted into the Senate in November, 2017 for swearing in by Leyonhjelm and Bernardi, not Pauline and her happy bunch. He was sworn in and immediately fell out with One Nation. He did not formally clarify his position for a few months, while still technically a One Nation Senator, sat as an Independant until February, 2018 when he formally formed a voting block with his two escorts.
In June, 2018 Anning joined Katter's Australia Party.

Mr Anning is symptomatic of the primary vote problem the LNP face in Qld. Remember who created the conditions for this guy and others like him to be in our Senate, giving them a voice and legitimacy by doing deals with them and describing One Nation as more sophisticated than in the past.